26 September 2011

The Police's answer to any self-induced agitation by an Arab on the Temple Mount is to arrest a Jew!

We need more BRACHOS recited over a sip of water. Everyone that ascends Har HaBayit should take a sip of water. The well-being of a Jew takes precedence over any situation. Choose life, not those that choose death.

This is what Arutz Sheva reported about an elderly man needing a sip of water while touring the Temple Mount:

Temple Mount Police arrested a 76-year-old Jewish man Sunday after he recited a blessing before drinking some water. Yosef Hacohen felt ill during a tour of the Temple Mount and wanted to take a sip from a water bottle. As another member of the group he was a part of supported him, he recited the "shehakol" blessing that precedes drinking of beverages.

This aroused the ire of three Muslim Wakf men who had been following the 30-member group of which Hacohen was a participant.

In response to the Muslims' demands, the two policemen who also followed the group took Hacohen out of the group. This led to a small fracas. A higher ranking police officer arrived on the scene and decided to arrest Hacohen "on suspicion of reciting the Priestly blessing."

He was detained for questioning.

Hacohen is the son of the late Rav Masoud Hacohen, a very well known religious judge (dayan) and decisor (posek) from North Africa. The group, from the Kiryat Hana Synagogue and the Klal Yofi synagogue in Jerusalem, was led by Rav Menachem Shouraki.

A Muslim man tried to provoke Shouraki during the tour and told him: "[Hamas leader] Ismail Haniyeh will send rockets at you and [Iranian leader Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad will finish you off. This is your end."

An organizer of the tour said the Wakf men appeared particularly on edge, two days after a U.N. speech by Palestinian Authority chairman Mahmoud Abbas. The purpose of the arrest, he said, "was to appease the Wakf men whose anti-Semitic hatred does not allow them to hear a Jew reciting a blessing."

A notebook filled with handwritten memories by the Rebbe's mother, Rebbetzin Chana Schneerson, of righteous memory, has been found by Lahak Director Rabbi Chaim Shaul Brook in Brooklyn, NY. The notebook, written in the Rebbetzin's beautiful round script, was penned between her arrival in the United States in 1948 and 1963. Mostly Yiddish, it is sprinkled with Russian phrases and references.

A first notebook has been published in the past and records memoirs of the 1939 arrest, incarceration, government-imposed exile – and ultimately, the passing – of her esteemed husband, Rabbi Levi Yitzchok Schneerson. The discovery of a second notebook is a stunning development. It includes her retelling of a number of events in her household, and in the childhood of her son, the Rebbe, the 7th leader of the Chabad-Lubavitch movement.

Starting from the Rebbetzin's 47th Yahrzeit on Vov Tishrei (October 4, 2011) and lasting about eight to ten months, the memoirs will be published weekly by Kehot Publication Society. A team of scholars has been working to study, translate, and footnote the memoirs.

"Israel, Stop Stuttering: After Four Millennia, the Eyes of the World Are Still On Israel," *

There is a lovely short prayer recited many times on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. It reads like this:

"And so, Lord our G-d, grant honor to Your people, glory to those who are in awe of You, good hope to those who seek You, confident speech to those who yearn for You, joy to Your land, and gladness to Your city..."

What is the meaning of these words,

"Confident speech to those who yearn for You"?

The Obsession

One of the great enigmas of history is the world's obsession with the Jewish people.

From our very inception 3,700 years ago, and throughout our long history until this very day, the Jewish people have evoked passionate response. Jews, it seems, never knew how to play "little league," staying out of the world's spotlight. We have been always playing "big league," caught up in the center of world events. Over the past four millennia, almost every great culture and civilization has been obsessed with the Jew, for better or for worse.

When a guru sits and meditates on a mountaintop—who blinks an eye? When Indian shamans smoke peyote and go into a trance, who pays attention? When a monk secludes himself in a monastery, who notices? But when the world spots a Jew, even an assimilated and self-hating Jew, it experiences an allergic reaction. Suddenly everyone is sneezing.

Indonesia has a population of 300 million people. How often do you hear about it? Israel has a population of seven million, yet barely a day goes by without front-page news from this little piece of land the size of New Jersey. The Muslims blame all their woes on Israel. Many Christians accuse Jews of deicide, and many extreme liberals and atheists blame the Jews for the scourge of terrorism. Nations who don't see eye to eye on anything, many of whose populations have never even met a Jew, unanimously agree that Israel is guilty of many sins. The only thing you can get the United Nations to agree on is condemning Israel. The Jew appears to be the great unifier, possessing the ability to unite the world in a profound and unique way.

Why the obsession with a people who never constituted more than one percent of the world's population? Why can't the world ever forget about us? Why do we generate so much interest without intentionally wanting to do so?

History as a Progression of Sermons

Israel's first chief rabbi, Abraham Isaac Kook (1865-1935), was a brilliant scholar, mystic and poet. He once formulated his own daring response to this age-old question. Whether one agrees with his conclusions or not, it is an idea worth reflecting upon.

All cultures, civilizations and peoples, suggested Rabbi Kook, have emerged on the world arena to grant humanity a unique contribution: A philosophical perspective, a scientific truth, an artistic expression, a political principle, a technological development and the like. Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, Persia, Greece, Rome, Byzantine and so many other cultures and states left their individual mark—small or large, positive or negative—on civilization. Once the people or civilization gave the world the gift of its genius, it left the center stage; the civilizations presented their "sermon" with pathos and then moved on to allow for the next "speaker" to emerge and deliver his subsequent message to humanity.

How about the Jews? From the moment they ascended to the center stage of history to deliver their message to the world, they have never descended. They have not even moved slightly off stage. The Jewish people remained standing in the center of every age and milieu in history. While the Greeks and Romans of old have vanished, the Jews still manage to constitute the hot topic at dinner parties and political conventions the world over.

Why?

Because, says Rabbi Kook, after 4,000 years of existence, they are still stuttering. The Jews have yet to deliver their message to the world with unwavering dignity and unambiguous clarity. We stand there, on center stage, the eyes of the world upon us on a virtually daily basis, but we speak in half sentences and apologetic undertones, continuously turning around to make sure we are not offending anybody. Lacking the courage to present ourselves for who we really are and what we really have to share with the world, humanity awaits with bated breath for the real Jew to stand up and speak.

Some Jews recoil into religion, shunning the world and ignoring its reality. Others travel in the other direction, attempting desperately to accommodate modernity and not come across as "too Jewish." Yet Judaism in its purest sense is the courageous attempt to generate that romantic kiss between heaven and earth, to uncover the truth that the G-d of the heavens and the reality of earth are truly one.

Our ambivalence often stems from our own confusion about whether we could place our wholehearted trust in our tradition, in our Torah, in our faith. Many of us feel that to embrace Torah in a modern world is unsophisticated and fundamentalist. Even Jews who adhere to a lifestyle governed by Torah feel that the Torah is good for their families and communities, but that it can't stand up to the pragmatic reality on earth. Washington and the United Nations are too "goyish" for Torah. They will never accept Torah. So our leaders, rabbis, politicians, journalists and spokesmen stand there during press conferences and stutter.Should We Be Ashamed With Judaism?

Sometimes, hearing it from the mouths of

non-Jews themselves, can be helpful.

Nineteenth-century American president John Adams wrote: "I will insist that the Hebrews have done more to civilize man than any other nation. If I were an atheist who believed or pretended to believe that all is ordered by chance, I should believe that chance has ordered the Jews to preserve and propagate to all mankind the doctrine of a supreme, intelligent, wise, almighty sovereign of the universe, which I believe to be the great essential principle of all morality, and consequently of all civilization."

Another Non-Jewish philosopher, Peter Kreeft, wrote these words: "The prophetic spirit of the Jew finds a meaning and a purpose in history, thereby transforming mankind's understanding of history. Their genius for finding meaning everywhere—for example in science and in the world of nature—can be explained in only two ways: either they were simply smarter than anyone else, or it was G-d's doing, not theirs. The notion of the chosen people is really the humblest possible interpretation of their history."

The Torah is the only thing that never let us down and never gave us false hopes. The Torah predicted thousands of years ago that if we forsook our identity as a "kingdom of princes and a holy nation," we would fail miserably. The same Torah also predicted that no matter what happens to us, we will outlive all our enemies and never vanish. The Torah possesses the most enduring, powerful and relevant truths available to humanity.

Telling the Truth

The State of Israel is one critical example. The Arab world has been thundering for 60 years that we are thieves; we have stolen their land and built a state on Islamic soil. Yet, in our response to the Arab accusations, we are always stuttering. Our leaders talk about Balfour Declarations and United Nations resolutions; we talk about self-defense and our readiness for peace. But we have no answer to the blatant outcry of the Arab world: The "Zionist entity" was built on occupied territory.

The Arabs present their message clearly: All of Palestine belongs to them. The entire State of Israel is one big settlement. That is why there was no peace before the 1967 war, a time of no Jewish settlements and no settlers. Gaza belonged to Egypt, the West Bank and East Jerusalem to Jordan and the Golan Heights to Syria. Why did six Arab countries decide to invade and exterminate Israel that year? Because in their belief, all of Israel occupies Arab land. According to the Koran, Jews have no right to establish a self-governed homeland on Islamic soil. For a Muslim who believes the Koran to be the word of Allah (G-d), even if Israel conceded 95 percent of its soil to the Arabs, the remaining 5 percent would need to be snatched from them. Non-Muslims are forbidden to govern any land that once belonged to Muslims.

While Israel was once held in awe, today, close to six decades years after its miraculous founding, it has reached its nadir. Never before has it been so isolated, lonely, abandoned and maligned, today becoming the world's favorite punching bag. Even in America, Israel's true friend, the intelligentsia on college campuses across the country continue to denigrate, humiliate, and harm Jews by pressuring universities to divest from Israel. Not since Hitler, not since the 1930s, have we seen such overt anti-Semitism rear its ugly head the world over.

It's high time we cease being on the defensive and let the world in on our big secret. The only reason Jews came from Odessa, Vilna and Warsaw to the land of Israel is because G-d gave it to them; because the Creator of the heaven and earth chose to give his Holy Land to the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as stated clearly in the Torah. There are three billion people in the world who believe in the Bible, who live with the Bible and who quote the Bible. But you will never catch any self-respecting Jew, the people who gave the world the Bible, dare even to whisper in public the obvious, simple and plain truth that our sole connection to the land of Israel is the Bible.

History has proven scores of times that the acquiescence of Jews has never succeeded in gaining the affection of our non-Jewish neighbors. The world respects Jews who respect themselves and their tradition; the world dislikes Jews who dislike themselves and their Judaism. What we desperately need today are Jews who are not stuttering, who are saturated with the quintessential message of Judaism, that the G-d of heaven and the reality of earth are one. This is the road to peace and reconciliation between the Jewish and non-Jewish world.

Paradoxically, it seems the world is waiting for this. Not only the Christian and Islamic world. Even the secular world seems respect Jews who respect themselves and their faith. The world is waiting for Israel to treat the land the way Israel should be treated, as G-d's personal gift to the Jewish people.

The world's ongoing obsession with the Jew, according to Rabbi Abraham Kook, is society's subconscious plea to the Jew to stop stuttering and share with the world what it heard at Sinai: that humanity is capable of building a world that will reflect the oneness and harmony of its Divine creator, and that each and every one of us can transform our corner of the universe into a Divine palace.

"Grant confident speech to those who yearn for You," we will pray five times on Yom Kippur. Let our people who deep down believe in You and yearn for You have the confidence to share with the world the revolutionary vision of Judaism that the spiritual and the physical can be seen as one. And that G-d, Israel and Torah are inseparable.

24 September 2011

As the first US Chair of the UN Security Council in a few weeks.........might I add, just in time for the voting on the Palestinian charade.

"Barack Obama is set to become the first-ever U.S. president to chair the United Nations' 15-member Security Council when it meets later this month..." NBC Chicago

But first, let's read what they had to say at the UN Friday, while religious Jews were preparing for the Holy Shabbat. And while G-d is keeping tabs on the nations going against Israel.

Abbass at the UN:

“After 63 years of suffering of an ongoing tragedy and nakba — enough, enough, enough,” Abbas said to applause."

What kind of suffering is this terrorist referring to?

They have been at war with us from pre-state Israel,

1929, 1948, 1967, and every day since!

From the very first halutzim that came to work the Land, the Jews have been under attack by local arabs, then all the Arab nations attacked the Jews living on their Land, and it has not ceased since then. It only gets more sophisticated. They don't want "any", that means "none", zero, not one Jew to live on our Land. ...When Jordan attacked in '67, The arabs ran away because Jordan declared they would overtake the Jews and then they could return.

Well it didn't turn out that way.

THEY DON'T WANT "A" STATE, THEY WANT TO RID THE JEWISH STATE OF JEWS!

Since 1948 the Arab Nation have been fighting us. The world's nations have been obsessed with "what are the Jews up to today?" headline after headline covering most if not all newspapers since 1948 have been obsessed with the "Jews".

That's why PM Netanyahu in his UN response to the vapid assertions of Abbass, declared "...the UN a “house of lies,” one that has condemned Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East, more than all the other nations combined."

A peaceful and honest man, PM Netanyahu:

“I came here to speak the truth. The truth is that Israel wants peace. The truth is that I want peace. The truth is that Israel wants peace with the Palestinians, but they want a state without peace, and the truth is you shouldn’t let that happen"

“I extend my hand, the hand of Israel, in peace. I hope that you will grasp that hand. We are both the sons of Abraham. Our destinies are intertwined. Let us realize the vision of Israel. The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. Let that light be the light of peace.”

"Hamas has been violating international law by holding our soldier Gilad Shalit for five years. Gilad Shalit is the son of every Israeli family. Every nation represented here should demand his immediate release. If you want to pass a resolution about the Middle East today – that’s the resolution you should pass."

"Foreign Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, walked out during Abbas’ address ... a “speech of incitement” that included “harsh threats.” "

What does Israel get in return? What will the Jews receive for their gesture:

"Israeli religious figures do not laud children who engage in terror operations.

"So what cause, no matter how deeply held, can motivate the current Palestinian society to sacrifice its generations, its future, to the most horrible form of childhood molestation and child sacrifice? The way in which the Palestinian Authority educates children and society is a key indicator of its true intentions.

"Convincing ordinary individuals to sacrifice themselves to kill the Jews is not easy, it requires subhuman ideas and institutions. The logo of the "Permanent Observer Mission of Palestine to the United Nations” – on their website and on top of their official statements at the U.N. – shows the Palestinian Authority’s claim to a Palestine that stretches throughout the entire historical entity of the former Palestine mandate, which had nothing to do with those who call themselves Palestinians today and everything to do with a national homeland for the Jewish people..

"Palestinian Media Watch also revealed that Mahmoud Abbas chose an icon of genocidal anti-Semitism, the mother of four terrorists, one of whom killed seven Israeli civilians and attempted to killed twelve others, as the person to launch the statehood campaign with the United Nations.

What I am about to propose may be the farthest thing from anyone's mind, but let's pretend for a minute. Pretend that all of Obama's decisions are deliberate. He could not single-mindedly move all these political chess pieces to create what we are witnessing. He had a partner. He obviously does his best thinking while golfing. He golfs more than all the presidents put together. I suggest he is communicating with someone who is advising him.

Let's pretend something different. What Barry has written as an assessment of the M.E. is negative in it's context. Looks bad. As an Israeli Jew, the immediate future looks very grim. It paints a picture of a world setting in a downward spiral, seemingly undoing all the democratic and political gains of the past. All this might lead to war chv's. News reports are excited, covering every nuance with bated breathing.

Now, realize that the Jewish people have been in America a long time. Each country we Jews have lived in during this long Galus followed the same pattern. First we were new settlers and struggling, then came the building and eventual prosperity and integration with the host country, which the host country benefited immensely from our ingenuity. The early immigrants to America (1880s) enabled the remnants of WWII to arrive, some to families and others to communities that held a Jewish presence.

At the same time, Jews were settlers in Eretz Yisrael. They created a functioning and innovative country. After about 60 years, while the Israelis were developing and becoming a stronger nation, the Jews in America were getting weaker with a diluted lifestyle and an assimilation rate skyrocketing. My estimate is they are nearing the 48-49th level. All the strong idealistic Jew have moved to Israel. The pattern is the same more or less.

Now let's look at the other side of this negative M.E. assessment coin, the positive side. Each aspect of this M.E. scenario appears threatening and out of control. Let's take each issue and turn it around and create a politically good thing out of it. Extrapolate out of what each member of this fiasco is doing and project a positive outcome ... for Israel and the Jews. It is not apparent yet, but this reversed outcome may surprise everyone.

I believe that G-d is maneuvering all these events (yes, I believe in the Almighty G- d who rules the world) to fulfill certain prophecies. The enemies of Israel, those nations that Barry Rubin wrote about in his current article are in turmoil, instigated by Obama's contrivances, which appear threatening. However, may I propose that there will come about a reversal that will change the entire world situation.

As it is yet to happen, it does not preclude that which might get a bit more complicated before it reverses.

Will Japan be able to survive the devastating onslaught of "natural" disasters being imposed on her? Photo: NASA Earth Observatory

A powerful typhoon is due to make landfall on Japan's south-west coast, moving across the capital to the north-east and on to the areas devastated by the March tsunami....The meteorological agency described the eye of Roke as "very strong" and advised residents living in its path to exercise the "greatest possible vigilance"...By mid-morning Wednesday the typhoon was located about 25 miles (40km) off the Kii peninsula in western Japan, generating winds of up to 135 miles per hour (216km/h). It was expected to reach the Tokyo area in the afternoon and the tsunami disaster zone in the evening."

Will Japan be another Atlantis?

"A U.S.-led research team may have finally located the lost city of Atlantis, the legendary metropolis believed swamped by a tsunami thousands of years ago, in mud flats in southern Spain."

Photo: National Geographic

""This is the power of tsunamis," head researcher Richard Freund told Reuters. "It is just so hard to understand that it can wipe out 60 miles inland, and that's pretty much what we're talking about," said Freund, a professor at the University of Hartford who led an international team searching for the true site of Atlantis... Conclusions are detailed in "Finding Atlantis," a National Geographic Channel special." Finding Atlantis

The Beit Shemesh police department arrested two haredi residents of the city Sunday on suspicion of throwing eggs and tomatoes at students who go to the "Orot Banot" school. The arrest is the latest in a series of incidents involving the opening of the religious-Zionist school on the border of a haredi neighborhood in the city. (Yair Altman)

It was reported elsewhere:

"Haredim have been protesting against the “provocation” of having “immodestly dressed” little girls attending school next to a haredi neighborhood.

"Adult haredi men have thrown rocks at grammar school children, chased little girls down the street while screaming “whore” at that them, and have threatened to seriously injure the students unless the government closes the school. They also took over the school building in late August and remained there until Modern Orthodox parents tried to force them to leave. The two groups fought, and haredim were removed from the building.

"The Zionist Orthodox girls are modestly dressed according to Jewish law, but they do not follow the extra-stringent haredi dress code that is extra-legal."

18 September 2011

"NYT: On the 17th of September, we want to see 20,000 people to flood into lower Manhattan, set up tents, kitchens, peaceful barricades and occupy Wall Street for a few months. Once there, we shall incessantly repeat one simple demand in a plurality of voices and we will not leave until that demand has been met.

"Like our brothers and sisters in Egypt, Greece, Spain, and Iceland, we plan to use the revolutionary Arab Spring tactic of mass occupation to restore democracy in America. We also encourage the use of nonviolence to achieve our ends and maximize the safety of all participants.

"Who is Occupy Wall Street?

"Occupy Wall Street is leaderless resistance movement with people of many colors, genders and political persuasions. The one thing we all have in common is that We Are The 99% that will no longer tolerate the greed and corruption of the 1%."

"We want freedom for all, without regards for identity, because we are all people, and because no other reason should be needed. However, this freedom has been largely taken from the people, and slowly made to trickle down, whenever we get angry."

"The people coming to Wall Street on September 17 come for a variety of reasons, but what unites them all is the opposition to the principle that has come to dominate not only our economic lives but our entire lives: profit over and above all else."

"Of course, nothing can expand forever. The second law of thermodynamics tell us this much at least. But that doesn't mean the market won't try."

"The world does not have to be this way. A society of ruthlessness and isolation can be confronted and replaced with a society of cooperation and community."

This is amazing. It very well may change the whole voting thing in 2012. Could this be Obama's biggest community organizing attempt? Or is this a Soros / New Israel Fund attempt to

Writing in the New York Review of Books, Soros said it was "imperative to prepare for the possibility of default and defection from the eurozone in the case of Greece, Portugal, and perhaps Ireland." He said "massive political changes were needed in Europe, including the establshment of a European Treasury, " to forestall a possible financial meltdown and another Great Depression.""

continue the march toward the one world, one government, one bank rule over the world.

The most alarming of the following is the Greece-Israel-Turkey scenario. Notice that I placed Israel is in the middle of this mess, which is where she placed herself.

Dov Bar-Lieb informed us before Shabbat that the end of teshuva for our lack of decency is coming to a close, and we await the other writings he is working on with eager anticipation.

and

Lazerbeams has added some more considerations for this week Double Drama:* Cyprus is scheduled to start its off-shore drilling, adjacent to Israel's offshore Leviathan gas field. Turkey has threatened to prevent such drilling, and has war ships in the area already. Meanwhile, Debka reports that Greek and Israel have already signed a mutual defense pact, aimed at their mutual enemy Turkey.* And the UN conundrum.

17 September 2011

Very interesting, that on Wednesday, 21 Sept., 22 Elul, there is going to be a big meeting of all the Rabbanim in the NY area, in NJ, to discuss the threat of modern communication devices (?) and the havoc (?) it is creating in and within Jewish frum families/communities.

This is the day after the UN threat to declare a non-nation has rights to nationhood, in order to claim rights to the land of Eretz HaKodesh.

Saudia Arabia is "cautioning" Obama not to veto this act of the UN, which will cause tension (?) and division (?) between SA and USA (interesting, these letters are).

Obama is trying to create some "black magic" to appease Israel's enemies and squeeze Israel at the same time, while trying to pacify "Crazy Erdy". Looks like a ballagan to me.

All these and other myriad events occurring close in time, and all right before our ROSH HaShana are clearly being orchestrated by Shamayim.

To what conclusion?

We shall have to stay tuned-in to world events, that is unless your Rabbi is banning certain telephones, computers, videos, mp3s, handhelds, cells with extreme measures to protect their religious way of life.

"The regulations will be sent to each and every home, along with a form that every chossid must sign, committing to adhere to the regulations. The forms signed by parents will be returned to the mosdos of the chassidus."

What or who will end up being the catalyst for a "new turn of events" in the world to = another increment on the road to the Geulah!!!

*********

Another interesting incident concerning a makom kavua or 'precious inherited seat conflict' involves two families claiming rights to a certain 'seat' in the beis medrash. Comments to this issue were what was so interesting:

"Yerusha: If the guy doesn’t claim it within 3 years then yerusha doesn’t matter

This is similar to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel has the land now, and the “palestinians” are trying to claims it’s really their land."

Also, this dispute occurring during this zman of teshuva, erev Rosh HaShana!

15 September 2011

Could This be The Beginning of The End to Mind Control or The End of This Government*?

"Mea She’arim - A bookstore in the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Mea She’arim, which has been struggling with violence from a mafia-style “Purity Committee” that objects to their English and Zionist (Israeli) books, was attacked once again early on Wednesday morning.

"At Or Hachaim, the Sikrikim’s demands include putting up a sign asking customers to dress modestly and removing all English-language and Zionist books. Two weeks ago, owners of the store met with Sikrikim representatives to try to stop the violence, but no solution was found. “Their list is too long, they want every English book out, they want the store, that’s the bottom line,”

"The Sikrikim are a most extremist splinter sect and are estimated to be no larger than 60-100 people, but their thug tactics reverberate throughout the neighborhood. “They attack charedim in their own neighborhood,” said David, an employee at Or Hachaim. The name “Sikrikim” comes from the Latin “Sicarii,” a term applied, in the decades immediately preceding the destruction of Yerushalayim in 70 CE, to an extremist splinter group of the zealots who tried to expel the Romans and their partisans from Judea using concealed daggers."

While modesty is sorely needed on the streets of Jerusalem (Israel), the Mafia like tactics of these gangsters are ultimately detrimental to Judaism. Modesty is a concept that must come from an appreciation for what it means. The Neshoma can be sensitized to its innate Jewish Holiness. You cannot and should not force anyone to go against their will. That only brings scorn and hatred.

The same way shouting, cursing to and in front of children on their way to school, and demonstrating in the fashion that they do in Beit Shemesh is abominable.

Jonathan Rosenblum wrote an article about this zealotry, and can be read at Life in Israel with commentary.

*at the time of the First Beis HaMikdash, the Sicarii persevered in their ways and ultimately brought destruction upon the Jewish Nation. Their tactics were extreme. Was it right to bring starvation upon the Jewish people? Are these the reincarnated souls we have today in Meah Shearim's "Sikrikim"?

Oh, my, here we go again. '67 no good, '49 no good, now I guess they will push us all into the sands of Tel Aviv and then out to sea! Heaven Forbid!

"Dr. Rateb Amro says declaration will change nothing on the ground but would free Israel of responsibility for Gaza."

"A unilateral declaration of independence by the Palestinian Authority would achieve little for the Arabs and be little more than "a storm in a cup of coffee,"

"He also said that the PA did not have the right to agree to the 1949 Armistice borders because the UN partition resolution of 1947 granted the Arabs 44% of the "historical land of Palestine." Therefore agreeing to the 1949 borders is "a questionable proposition and an act of bad faith," in his opinion, because it cedes Israel land it gained in the War of Independence.

Meanwhile Jordan's Abullah is helpless in witnessing the coming dissolution of it's own sovereignty, piece by piece slowly by their very own Palestinians -

...with a "Million Man March" entitled “Jordan Will Help Free Palestine" See here Million Man March

"The fall of a nation is preceded by the fall of it’s sar, or administering angel. Once the sar falls, then the nation will fall. This is based on the Zohar (section 2, page 18a - LB) which says that what the Jews saw on the banks of the Red Sea suf was the sar of Egypt dying. Yishmael has 12 sarim (plural for “sar”)."

“Osama bin Ladin, being the biggest danger to the entire world, had the biggest sar of Yishmael. During these past few weeks as we saw so many entrenched arab leaders, heirs of Yishmael, fall, it is apparent that their defending sar has already fallen and they will continue their downfalls. It is a great thing when sarim fall. The Princes of Yishmael are falling. Bin Laden had their biggest sar. The way the Maharal puts it, he does not have to be a direct descendant of Yishmael. Bin Laden is from the culture of Yishmael.”Rav Moshe Wolfson Shlit’a

Sounds like Pharoah's anger at the Jews!Ahashverosh was woken in the middle of the night ... To "remember" Mordechai!

But, Barak wakes to destroy Jewish homes and families ...

I don't know about anyone else, but I think the Israeli Government is headed for a mental breakdown. the below story from Arutz Sheva about circumstances surrounding the destruction in Migron is stomach turning. Someone has got to get hold of Barak and put him in the nut house where he belongs. His behavior is that of a servant of Obama and not the welfare of the Israeli people. Barrack and Livni are two sides of the same corrupt and twisted coin, in my opinion.

Just read this carefully:

Migron Destruction: Direct Order from BarakBarak overturned emergency stay injunction to destroy Migron homes; prosecutors accused of ‘breaking the law in the name of the law.’

"In a special Knesset committee session on the recent demolition of homes in Migron, state prosecutors admitted to ignoring an emergency injunction at 2:30 a.m. to postpone the destruction. The order was ignored following the intervention of Defense Minister Ehud Barak, who in the middle of the night called Attorney Osnat Mandel, director of department of Supreme Court petitions, and said that forces were already in the village and might be in danger if they delayed the demolition.

Mandel, a representative of the Attorney General's office, failed to notify the Prime MInister's Office by calling the cabinet secretary before proceeding with the demolition, a violation of proper procedure. MK Michael Ben-Ari accused her of “breaking the law in the name of the law.”

"The children didn't matter?" said MK Ben-Ari furiously."

In the end A G-d fearing Jew believes and knows that HaShem is in control, and we continue to await our Moshiach.

A Jewish man who accompanied his daughter to the Temple Mount on the morning of her wedding day was arrested and detained for three hours. His crime – putting a pinch of dust in a matchbox as a keepsake.

The incident took place on Monday, when Shlomo Neeman took his daughter Rivka to the Temple Mount. Shlomo is a senior employee with the Jewish Agency who lives in Carmei Tzur; Rivka, his oldest daughter, was just hours before her wedding. The two were approved by police to ascend the mount, which according to Jewish tradition is the holiest site on earth.

However, when Shlomo picked up a small quantity of dust, three police officers immediately arrested him and accused him of carrying out a religiously significant act - which when done by a Jew, is considered to have “potential to disturb the peace,” and is thus forbidden. Shlomo was detained for three hours while his daughter waited. He was ultimately released with a warning that he is barred indefinitely from accessing the Temple Mount.

He has visited the Temple Mount regularly for more than 20 years. Temple Mount activist Yehuda Glick accused police of behaving like “bullies” at the holy site, and of “doing everything to make life difficult for Jews who ascend the Mount.”

At least six women have been arrested on their wedding day over the past two years for allegedly moving their lips in prayer while visiting the holy site, he added. Monday’s incident followed a police promise to provide Jews with greater access to the site after protests over widespread anti-Jewish discrimination.

Eighteen women visited Temple Mount last week, heard lesson on women’s role in Redemption and prayed.

Eighteen women ascended to the Temple Mount last week, in yet another manifestation of the growing Jewish interest and longing for the Temple Mount. The women – from Ofra, Alon Moreh, Kochav HaShachar, Havat Gilad and Jerusalem also said a prayer.

The women were led around the Mount by Rav Itai Elitzur, who spoke to them about the sanctity of the Mount and of the Women’s Section that was part of the Temple.

I guess the police are telling women that their davening on the Temple grounds doesn't matter ... that women don't count!?

What about the five righteous daughters of Tzelofchad?

What about Hannah?

And what about Mama Rochel!?

If we might have unarmed Arab invaders pour into YERUSHALAYIM demanding their "right" to return to Judea and Samaria in connection with the UN vote on recognizing a Palestian State on OUR Land,

maybe we should exercise our Biblical Contract with HaShem and march in solidarity (women from all the different expressions of Judaism including secular) and ascend the Temple Mount grounds to reclaim our Yerusha!

13 September 2011

He is expected to set out details of that assistance in an address to Arab League foreign ministers. Mr Erdogan is touring three Arab states that recently ousted their leaders. He arrived in Egypt last night. The Turkish leader, who has garnered popularity among Arabs for his denunciations of Israel, was met by an enthusiastic crowd in Cairo.BBC

Theatrics with Israel to assure his ascendency in Power in the region.

Jordan's King Abdullah II reaffirmed his government's rejection of his father and grandfather's historic policy that "Jordan is Palestine" on Monday. "The so-called 'substitute homeland' exists only in the minds of the weak," Abdullah told reporters, stressing "the Jordanian option is an illusion. Jordan is Jordan, and Palestine is Palestine."

"Analysts say, despite Jordan's couching its opposition in terms of concern for 'Palestinian refugees' and the so-called right of return, that Amman's motives are likely rooted in its own demographic and security concerns. Jordan's 'Palestinian refugee'' majority has been heavily involved in recent unrest in Jordan - during which there have been credible threats on Abdullah's life - and assuming responsibility for PA enclaves in Judea and Samaria is widely seen as a potentially destabalizing move for the Hashemite monarchy by regional experts.

"Perhaps 57 per cent of Jordanians are non-Palestinians – many of them from powerful tribes outside Amman. But the nationalists say that, by 1988, 1.95 million Palestinians held Jordanian citizenship. Another 850,000 hold citizenship that the ex-army men regard as illegal. Another 950,000 Palestinians from the West Bank live legally, but without citizenship, on the East Bank – in other words, in Jordan. Another 300,000 come from Gaza. The ex-army officers see a "silent transfer" of Palestinians across the Jordan river."As of 2010, "The Jordanian government, appointed by the king, has shown "extreme weakness" towards Israel and America. "Recent [Jordanian] cabinets... have already begun to implement a covert... political quota system by placing Palestinians – including some who have yet to complete the full legal requirements of citizenship – in key positions at the pinnacle of the state apparatus."

What is a Palestinian?

The term Palestinian broadly refers to Arabs who declined Israeli citizenship in 1948, when the country was formed. Previously, it had referred to the occupants of the territories controlled by Britain, including modern Israel. After 1948, many Palestinians fled abroad, while the West Bank fell under Jordanian rule for two decades. Some Palestinians, including Druze and Bedouin, accepted Israeli citizenship, and are now called Israeli Arabs. Today the term generally applies to those who would inhabit a separate Palestinian state based on the West Bank and Gaza.

More coverage on the Big Ships Coming to harrass little (but strong) Israel:

"The Arrogant Erdogan" says: "If Turkish warships encounter an Israeli military ship outside Israel's 12-mile territorial waters, they will advance up to 100 meters from the ship and disable its weapon system."

A mere declaration of war! He's maneuvering for a renewed Ottoman Empire, in control of the once "Palestine". This will throw a monkey's wrench into Abbas' plans and shift the power struggle in the M.E. (more below on this from Barry Rubin).

DEBKAfile's military sources report that this is more than a threat of belligerence against Israeli naval shipping; it is also an attempt to dictate the terms of its threatened military engagement at sea with Israel and arbitrarily lay down the outer limits of Israel's territorial waters. One of its goals is to deprive Israel's deep sea gas wells of naval protection. Turkish naval sources report that the frigates assigned the mission against Israel belong to its Southern Sea Area Command.

"1. The Turkish prime minister's Tahrir Square speech Monday afternoon. His anti-Israel campaign has drawn from the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood an enthusiastic welcome and the promise of a mass turnout. The MB declared the mob attack on the Israeli embassy a legitimate protest operation in defiance of the Egyptian government's position.

"2. The Turkish prime minister said Sunday that his campaign against Israel has five stages of which only two have been implemented.

"3. Israel's government and military leaders worry that the Palestinian Jihad Islami terrorists lurking in Sinai for the past three weeks will choose this moment to strike – whether to kidnap Israelis still vacationing on its beaches or a cross-border attack in Israel. The gunmen have met no Egyptian military interference and they will no doubt be encouraged to take advantage of the incendiary climate generated by the Turkish prime minister and Cairo mob's sacking of the Israeli embassy.

"4. The Muslim Brothers, Hamas and other radical Palestinian organizations in Jordan have used Facebook to rally "a million-strong march" on the Israeli embassy in the Jordanian capital of Amman for Thursday evening, Sept. 15, to push for the expulsion of Israeli Ambassador Danny Nevo."

Shedding light on what may be an undercurrent of shifting Power in the Arab World and the M.E.,

Barry Rubin makes an interesting analysis: about Persia's (Iran) waning influence. It seems that the Sunni, Shia, and Wahabi tribes may be at each other's throats again. And this may be the prelude to military intervention by a strong NATO nation.

Barry, at Pajamas Media,"In Egypt, favorable views of Iran declined from 89 percent in 2006 to 37 percent today. In Saudi Arabia those holding such beliefs declined from 85 percent to 6 percent; and in Jordan from 75 percent to 23 percent. That’s an incredibly steep decline. Incidentally, in these countries, attitudes toward the United States remained highly unfavorable and only got worse under President Obama."

"So Egyptians, Jordanians, and Saudis are turning away from Iran. Now what do these three countries have in common? Answer: they all have big Sunni majorities, 90 percent in Saudi Arabia, 100 percent in Jordan, and 100 percent of the Muslims–who form about 90 percent of the whole population–in Egypt."

Once More Into the Swamps is an article in which he discusses the new Middle East. Indicating that what has happened in Egypt is changing the game-plan. And hopefully America will wake up to this new reality. The article also can be accessed here.

Oh, well, I guess we just have to stay tuned in to the ever changing saga of "SoapBoxMiddleEast" brought to you by your ever faithful online bloggers and columnists.

I was in an R Train from Brooklyn to Manhattan on my way to work. When I heard that a plane went into the Twin Towers it sounded so crazy that it couldn't have been an accident. Everyone was on their cells trying to contact someone to find out what was happening. The train went thru the tunnel to the Wall Street area, people got on and this is when everyone got very excited. This person got on by the Chambers station and was very nervous and scared and telling us all she knew about what happened.

As our train was leaving the next station, it stopped quickly. An announcement told us all to make our way back to the last car and that we were to exit the subway. One by one we followed each other to the very last door, that was barely near the platform. Police were there and directed us up and out and, once on the street, we saw people walking, some dazed some confused.

More police and military were all over yelling at us to go, just keep walking uptown," just keep walking uptown!"

I found myself walking with a lot of people I didn't know, we were all worried and questioning. We went straight up the east side, and at some point I turned left and went thru a park toward the west side where my office was. I sat in the park to rest a little and then I looked up and downtown where everything was happening. Then I saw an amazing sight.

This huge tall building with smoke rising started disappearing slowly toward the ground. I watched as it descended, while still whole, just getting shorter and shorter until I couldn't see it anymore.

All I could do was say, "Oh my G-d, Oh my G-d. What did they do (the Americans). What do You want from us?"

I tried to call home to tell my Mother that I was ok, but didn't have a connection. So, all I could do was head for the office. I got to Broadway and hitched a ride with others going further uptown. People were helping anyone everyone. It was amazing When I got to the office everyone was there but me. I was late that day because I needed to help my Mother and wait for the aide to arrive. MTA was debating whether to allow trains to run. That's why I got caught in the subway.

The next few hours were craziness. Listening to the news, wondering how to get home, when to leave? No trains were running anywhere now. I may have been on the last train in. But now how to get out!

We waited until the news announced that the trains were going and which one's were in fact running. There were only certain lines we could take and while I ended up in Brooklyn I had to walk from there to Boro Park, arriving home in the dark. With every step I was talking with HaShem.

The turmoil went on for days and days. We were glued to my Mother's TV watching scene after scene of gruesome replays and people sobbing and searching for their loved ones. The radio gave me more information and interviews over the next several days and weeks. I was never patriotic and never felt truly at home in America, but the achdus of the New Yorkers was amazing and contagious.

So much has happened since then, to me personally. My Mother a"h is now in a better place, and my husband and I are truly in the best place in the world here in Yeushalayim.

G-d is in charge, and while we don't understand everything, and don't have we any of the answers, we trust that He is leading His children through history to the Geulah and everything that Am Yisrael has gone through was for a purpose. We shall understand when Moshiach comes.

"Rhetoric concerning but will not impact Gaza blockade. Meanwhile, Ankara-Cairo ties get commercial boost in form of military, trade contracts and naval maneuvers" = At the same time the Israeli Embassy is attacked and those inside are airlifted to safety.

If these warships travel through the Bosphorus Straits on their way to accompany a Turkish flotilla, this could be the prophecy the predicts the imminent arrival of Moshiach that is attributed to the Vilna Gaon.

Recently found article: "A fascinating 1980 Jewish commentary, Daniel, published by The ArtScroll Tanach Series, makes the following comments on the identity of Magog:

"The various traditions concerning the identity of Magog, who in Genesis 10:2 is listed among the sons of Noah's son Japheth, tend to place the land of Magog in what today is southwest Russia The Caucasian region, which lies between the Black and Caspian Seas . . . This is in agreement with Yerushalmi Megillah 3:9 which renders Magog as "the Goths," a group of nomadic tribes who destroyed the Scythians and made their homes in Scythian territory. . . . Our identification of Magog as Caucasia, which was at one time inhabited by the Goths, is based on the assumption that the land of Magog is named after Japheth's son. . . .

"Rabbi Chisdai Ibn Shaprut wrote to the king of Khazaria in which he addresses the king as 'prince, leader of Meshech and Tubal.' This salutation, drawn from our verse, indicates that the Gaonim had a tradition that these countries were indeed located in Russia.

"This acclaimed commentary concludes this section with a fascinating comment:

"In this light one may understand an oral tradition passed down from the Vilna Gaon (see Chevlei Mashaiach BiZemaneinu, p. 134), that when the Russian navy passes through the Bosporus it will be time to put on Sabbath clothes (in anticipation of the coming Mashiach.)

"The Bosporus is the narrow strait in Turkey that links the Black Sea to the Mediterranean Sea through the Dardanelles strait. The Jewish sages warned that the generation who witnessed the Russian preparation to invade Israel should prepare their hearts because the coming of the Messiah was at hand."

There is so much turmoil in the world, that in our days the war could almost come from anyone. Turkey, Egypt, Lybia, Persia,

"For fifty years, the United Nations and the Arab states have continually demanded that the tiny nation of Israel surrender its vital land to "buy" peace with its Arab neighbours. However, we should consider some questions. How large is Israel compared to her Islamic neighbours?

"The state of Israel is less than one-tenth of 1 percent as large as the thirty-five Islamic states surrounding her throughout the Middle East. These thirty-five Islamic states possess 8,879,548 square miles of territory and a combined population of 804,500,000.

"To put this in perspective, the tiny nation of Israel is only 8,020 square miles in size with a population of less than five million people. This means that the surrounding Islamic nations are 1,107 times larger than the Jewish state of Israel. The state of Texas alone is over thirty-two times the size of Israel.

"The Islamic state of Saudi Arabia is over one hundred and seven times the size of Israel. Islam is the major religion in thirty-five nations, or 22 percent of the 159 member-states of the United Nations. Judaism is the major religion in only one nation on earth, the state of Israel.

And:

"Ever since the Six-Day War, when Israel miraculously defeated six countries, her enemies have been in awe of her military genius and power. The very first day of the war Israel promptly destroyed virtually the entire Jordanian and two-thirds of the Syrian air force, and hit an Iraqi air force base. By the end of the second day, June 6, 1967, Israeli officials believed the war had already been won. 416 Arab aircraft had been destroyed, 393 of which had been destroyed on the ground. Israel lost 26 airplanes in action. In 500 sorties Israel destroyed 309 of Egypt's 340 aircraft.

"No wonder the Arab world hesitates to take on the Jews again in a real war! And no wonder that the Arabs would quickly embrace a Russian plan to destroy Israel. Many people are not aware of this fact:more than 55 million Arabs live in Russia!"

"U.S. President Barak Obama spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday after hundreds of Egyptian demonstrators broke into the Israeli Embassy in Cairo earlier in the day. The U.S. president's office issued a statement in which Obama expressed great concern over the attack and for the Israelis stationed there. ... Calls to end the historic 1979 peace agreement between Israel and Egypt, a pact that has never been widely supported by Egypt’s constituency, have been on the rise since the fall of Hosni Mubarak in February"

It appears, the "greater" the concern by Obama, the greater his sense of "accomplishment" in destabilizing regimes and moving them toward Sharia.

UPDATE: It seems there was B"H a turn of events and the President of the United States stepped in to save Israelis. Read on Yeshiva World News but first reported at YNet.

"It appears that only the swift intervention of US President Barack Obama prevented a catastrophe from unfolding. “I would say it was a decisive moment – fateful, I would even say,” Netanyahu said on Saturday evening.

“He said, ‘I will do all that I can,’ and he did; he applied all of the means and influence of the United States of America, which are certainly substantial. And I think we owe him special thanks.”

08 September 2011

WIKILEAKS exposes New Israel Fund official predicting the demise of Israel.

How disgusting that these so-called Jews, on the edge of leftist ledge of humanity, are plotting and scheming the end chv's of Eretz Yisrael and the Jews living thereon. However, they don't realize that G-d is orchestrating their fatal embarrassment.

This is a explosive report concerning the New Israel Fund, Jessica Montell, NGO's, and a host of others .. and can be found in the Online issue of Commentary Magazine, Sept 6, written by Noah Pollak. it reads in part,

"And here is Jessica Montell, the head of B’Tselem:

She wanted the highest level decision-makers held accountable for the decisions they made on how to prosecute the conflict, including Military Advocate General (MAG) Mandelblit…Her aim, she said, was to make Israel weigh world opinion and consider whether it could “afford another operation like this.”

What Montell means by that last sentence is frighteningly clear: she wants to create the conditions in which “world opinion” can prevent the IDF from defending Israelis from attack.

Then there is a cable about a draft Knesset bill (since extensively modified) that seeks greater transparency for foreign-funded NGOs:

Here Montell is giving credence to what B’Tselem’s critics, such as NGO Monitor, have been saying for years: that the group is essentially an arm of European foreign policy, more interested in condemning Israel than in promoting human rights.

And then there’s the bombshell:

New Israel Fund (NIF) Associate Director in Israel Hedva Radovanitz, who manages grants to 350 NGOs totaling about 18 million dollars per year, [said] that the campaign against the NGOs was due to the “disappearance of the political left wing” in Israel and the lack of domestic constituency for the NGOs. She noted that when she headed ACRI’s Tel Aviv office, ACRI had 5,000 members, while today it has less than 800, and it was only able to muster about 5,000 people to its December human rights march by relying on the active staff of the 120 NGOs that participated.

She commented that she believed that in 100 years Israel would be majority Arab and that the disappearance of a Jewish state would not be the tragedy that Israelis fear since it would become more democratic.

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Ein Od Milvado

LIVING in Eretz Israel is the equivalent of all the Mitzvot of the Torah (Sifri, Parashat Re'eh, TOSEFTA, AVODA ZARA 5:2)

Fortunate is he who merits in his life to FIX HIS RESIDENCE in Eretz HaKodesh (Zohar Hakadosh Iii 72b) and remove from your heart this false belief that a man has more blessings outside the land (Alshich Hakadosh, Ki Tavo 28:6)